Guarantor formula could play role for Israel-Palestine peace: Expert

LONDON

The world must do everything to stop the death and destruction that Israel is inflicting on the Gaza Strip, and a guarantorship model could help bring about lasting peace, according to a human rights expert.

Last month, Türkiye put forward the idea of a guarantor system to end the violence and reach a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has also said Türkiye stands “ready to act as a guarantor country for Gaza.”

In an interview with Anadolu, Tayab Ali, director of the International Center of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP), stressed the need for a solution that would work for both Israelis and Palestinians.

“We have to do anything that we can to stop the military action with respect to Gazan civilians, but at the same time, Israel wants security for its personnel and its people and its civilians too,” he said.

He said UN member states could come together to put an intervention force on the ground “to guarantee security, not just for the Palestinians but for the Israelis.”

“I would advocate strongly for peacekeepers on the ground, neutral peacekeepers on the ground preventing any further atrocities,” said Ali.

As for the guarantor system, he added that it “could play a role if it was presented by honest partners in the situation.”

‘Decades of unfair and unbalanced system’

Israel’s devastating assault on Gaza has been, according to several rights groups, riddled with various war crimes and crimes against humanity, including targeting of civilians and collective punishment.

Since Oct. 7, it has killed over 15,000 Palestinians, including 6,150 children and 4,000 women, according to health authorities in the enclave. The official Israeli death toll stands at 1,200.

“There are significant statements from very senior members of the Israeli government, who have indicated their intention to either refer to Palestinians as human animals or to collectively punish Palestinians as a group,” said Ali.

Touching on the root cause of the conflict, he said the problem lies in “decades of an unfair and unbalanced system” between the Palestinians and the Israelis.

“You have this imbalance of power, where you have one party with all the power and one party without the power,” he said.

“When you bring those people to a table, it’s very difficult to come to an agreement or a relationship because one party doesn’t have to agree to anything the other party wants.”

Any resolution will not be brought militarily, he asserted.

“The answer here is to create a proper, fair, rules-based accountability system, which applies to Palestinians and Israelis equally,” he said.

“Once that system is in place, or once there’s a promise of that system, I think it will bring both parties to a table where they can agree to a diplomatic solution.”